A fun, free event happening soon in Sydney: The Secrets of Sydney Harbour on 18-19 August at the Australian National Maritime Museum. Presented by Science Week and the Sydney Science Festival @ANMM, in partnership with the Sydney Institute of Marine Science (SIMS), the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, and the University of Technology Sydney. Includes underwater ROV demonstrations!
Maritime Museum offers ROV camps
The Wisconsin Maritime Museum is offering underwater robotics summer camps this year, in conjunction with the Two Rivers FIRST Robotics Competition team, STEMpunk. Workshops are designed to teach kids in grades 6-9 how to build underwater robots (ROVs). Weekend camps teach marine science, technology and physical science concepts through hands-on experience designing, building and testing an ROV, followed by a day on the research vessel the RV Neeskay exploring submerged Lake Michigan shipwrecks using a professional ROV.
Full article at: Herald Times Reporter 25jun18
Students test their underwater robots during an underwater robotics summer camp at Manitowoc’s Wisconsin Maritime Museum.
Photo Credit: Herald Times Reporter
Batemans Bay Hack-A-Thon
We participated in the Batemans Bay High School Hack-a-thon on the 6th of July, getting a group of 5 students in years 5-9 to build a SeaMATE Angelfish ROV kit. It was awesome! The simple kit components were put together to build an operational vehicle in a day. Students gained an understanding of buoyancy, propulsion, motors, wiring and switches. But most importantly they were inspired by their success, which will encourage them to go further and learn more.
Girl Builds ROV to collect Microplastics from Oceans
Amazing Anna Du, a 12-yr old from Andover Massachusetts, built a Smart Infrared-based ROV to collect micro plastics from the ocean. She is one of this year’s finalists in the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientists Challenge and we think her invention is INCREDIBLE. You can see Anna’s 2018 Young Scientist Challenge Entry here: Young Scientist Lab
International Student ROV Competitions
Robotics courses, clubs and events for students of all ages are more readily available and frequent than ever, especially in the US. Here are a couple of fun examples of student robotics clubs building ROVs and enjoying the challenge of competitions:
Local SeaPerch competition in Massachusetts: Andover High School students in robotics competition
Local SeaMATE competition in Seattle Washington: Port Townsend STEM club advance to 2018 MATE competition
2018 International MATE Competition going on RIGHT NOW (21-23 June in Seattle Washington):
2018 International MATE Competition home page
Live-stream video at 2018 MATE Comp
Note – live-streaming starts at 3am AEST